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This is me

A busy mind in many places. One of my children was asked what I did for a living. The list given includes my main occupation of farming but also goes on to school bus driver, carpentry, furniture making, developer, designer, landscaping, handyman and more. I've traveled in most states of the union (I'm missing two) and several foreign countries. My favorite vacation is a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I like to read. Favorite authors include western author Louis L'Amour, science fiction writer Anne McCaffrey and architect Sarah Susanka. I like to sing and am a bass in our local barbershop chorus. In church I also prefer the bass part. My best friend and wife, Karen, and I have 3 children who are all busy and happily building their own lives. We have twin granddaughters born in September 2011 and another granddaughter born in April 2014.

Drip, drip, that seems to be all we get. It’s been rainy for too many days here in southwestern Minnesota. It’s hard to make any progress on harvest when it stays this wet. We did take some time and get some minor repairs done on the combine. Now I do not have to listen to that Thump, Thump anymore.

Soybeans have been at a stand still. The rain and high humidity have added moisture to the soybeans so there has been no soybean harvest for some time now. Those in our area that had a lot of soybeans left to harvest waited, then finally gave up. More and more you see bean heads back on the transports and corn heads in the field. High humidity and rain or even snow are in the forecast for the next several days. Monday shows promise, but then we could get wet again on Tuesday. Soybeans will have to wait.

Corn harvest has slowed a bit. We are harvesting a share rental farm and all of the corn must go into town. Since the landlord has corn contracted at a specific co-op we must haul their share to that elevator. Lines are long and slow. Hours for delivery are shorter than our usual fall working times. Deliveries are 8 to 5, so once we get the last load in, all we can do is fill trucks. At least I can get to bed at a decent time.

The corn has picked up moisture. Varieties that were 18% are now 20% moisture. We could use some sunny skies and warm winds. That is looking less and less likely. So far we have not cranked up our corn drier, that is about to happen. With the calendar moving to the second half of October and cold and damp in the forecast, the chance of any natural drying has decreased. We have to accept that the rest of the harvest must be dried. Drying 20% moisture corn does not take too long, but there is some out there that is over 25%, that will take a bit longer.

So far I am not impressed with the corn yields. It’s obvious that a second summer drought along with the poor conditions we had for planting have taken a toll on our yields. The rains were either too early, or too late. Still it is remarkable how much we are harvesting.